The Eureka High School boys lost a close game to the Fredonia Yellowjackets Friday night in Eureka. Both teams appeared evenly matched going into the game and the result, while not ideal for the Tornadoes, bore that out.
The Tornadoes opened the game playing great defense and getting good looks at the basket on offense. While they missed some easy ones early, they managed to hit enough to take a 7-point lead. However, their shooting woes only got worse in the second quarter, hitting on only 11% of their shots. Additionally, Fredonia began hitting everything they threw up, scoring 18 points, erasing their 7-point deficit to take their own 7-point lead at the half.
Eureka opened the second half on fire, scoring a whopping 23 points and taking the lead going into the fourth. A back-and-forth final frame saw the Tornadoes outscored by five, which was enough for the Jackets to win the game. The Tornadoes committed 17 turnovers, five of which came in the decisive fourth quarter when they had a chance to ice the game.
Senior Jace Nixon led the Tornadoes with 19 points. junior Laken Valentine had 12, senior Lyle Perrier had 11, junior Tanner Biering had 3, and senior Cole Adkins and sophomore T.J. Mills had 2 each.
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final EHS 13 4 23 9 49 FHS 6 18 13 14 51
Up Next
The Tornadoes continue their season against Humboldt on Tuesday night of this week, at home. Eureka will then travel to Neodesha on Feb. 2, before hosting Council Grove on Feb. 6.
